Day 12 of the 25 Days of TF-Mas! (Contains girl to tree tf)

Rachel’s arrival spurred inspiration in Kat. It was clear that there was less time than previously anticipated to finish decorating Vanessa’s home, since family members were already beginning to arrive. So, the wish granting creature clad in the appearance of a woman with long, black, wavy hair in a winter coat tied at the waist and a light-colored beanie stood in the home of a woman it had turned to wrapping paper, surveying the living room for the next item it needed to acquire. Kat took a bite from a cookie made from Vanessa’s sister, Rachel, who had made the mistake of dropping by early to help prepare. Eventually, Kat’s eyes lay on the box of tree ornaments, and looked towards the tree. It was… small and fake, nothing at all like something that embodied the spirit of the holidays. Kat held the Rachel cookie in its mouth and hurried out of the door in search of a place to find a true holiday pine. In Kat’s hurry, it failed to notice a car pull out from a street-side parking spot and follow. Elliott gripped the wheel. She had called off work for this and been up all night staking out the house. She’d seen a woman stop by and never come out, and while she wanted to sneak in while Kat was away to investigate, she wouldn’t be distracted and lose her again. She rubbed her baggy eyes and downed another energy shot on her way after the mysterious woman.

Kat was not wandering this time, and incapable of being distracted by the wayward soul in an eatery or store. This time, Kat had a mission. Soon enough, the sight of a lot came into view. Advertising signs all over had pointed to this place for the holidays. A tree farm where one could pick out a tree. Either uninterested in doing things the appropriate way, or ignorant of the appropriate way to begin with, Kat breezed by the reception area and moved deeper into the neatly arranged rows of trees. They varied in width and stature, aiming to please any number of clienteles, so long as one was looking for an authentic tree. It was only now that Kat pondered why exactly humans were so fond of sticking a tree indoors, but such was their customs, and Kat had a wish to grant.

Ever drawn towards humans of heightened emotion, Kat found itself walking into a bit of an argument between an exasperated and disinterested man and a boisterous woman. The man was fed up with the obsession over the holidays and all this, in his words, nonsensical preparation. The woman was yelling about tradition and wanting to make a day of finding the perfect tree for their home. While the man half heartedly attempted to walk back his dismissal of the things the woman was so passionate about, he lashed out when she was resistant to his suggestion that they go with the tree they had seen before. She accused him of still wanting to cut this important tree hunting tradition short, and he blew her off, heading back to the entrance. Kat tilted its head, what a bizarre pairing.

The woman looked up, wiping her eyes, “Oh geez, how embarrassing,” she sighed, “Sorry you had to see that.”

“What are you doing?” Kat asked, looking back at the direction the man had stormed off.

“Hah. Reconsidering my engagement I guess,” she said bitterly, “Not your problem though, sorry. I’m actually here to get a tree, same as you I assume.”

“Yes, I’m here for a tree. A good one.” Kat replied

“Well, this is the place for it. Come here every year. I just wish I could spend the holiday with someone that appreciates the fuss and bustle of the holiday and not just the food and gifts.” She shook her head.

“That your wish?” Kat asked, watching her intently.

“Tch, yeah, but I’m stuck with that jerk,” she laughed, “I’ll be over it later, didn’t mean to make a scene. Thanks for the chat, and good luck finding a good tree!” she waved and started off deeper into the farm to keep searching.

Elliott watched from a distance, writing notes about the entire conversation, and chewing her pen with anticipation. Was Kat going to make a move? She watched the woman walk off and Kat was just standing there for a bit before finally heading off itself. Elliott continued to trail them both, knowing that this was her best change to prove definitively that Kat was doing something to these people. Elliott began to hurry through the trees, sticking to these routes rather than the more obvious paths to get the jump on the woman and Kat. Her blood was pumping, and her breath was picking up speed. This was it! This was… it? Here the woman Kat had talked to was, but where was Kat? She warily stepped out of the trees, her head on a swivel to catch a glimpse of the elusive target of her obsessive stal- investigation. So intensely was she searching for Kat that she ignored the woman crying out to Elliott for help at first. It took several seconds for her to realize that the woman was… not quite alright. She appeared to be struggling in place, yanking on her legs as though she were in quicksand.

Elliott hurried to her side, “Where is the woman in the beanie?” she demanded, a little too frantically.

“What-? I don’t know, can’t you see I need help!?” The woman cried, approaching hysterics rapidly.

Her tone was what finally brought Elliott back to her senses. She took a closer look at the woman. Her upper body was normal, though her hair was starting to turn a shade of dark green. Her legs were a much different story. Elliott crouched to look and found the woman’s shoes had been completely torn to tatters, and her pants were not far behind. Her feet were nowhere to be found, and the skin revealed between the tears in her pants was a darker, mottled brown compared to the rest of her. Sounds of creaking wood and splitting twigs was coming from the woman’s legs and, on a hunch, Elliott dug into the dirt at her feet a bit. She found that the woman’s legs had fused at the ankles and split off into multiple tendrils of solid wood that burrowed into the ground. Even as she investigated this, Elliott could see the change in the woman’s skin was travelling up her body and with it her legs were becoming one solid mass. Elliott stood slowly and watched her for a few more moments. Her legs and hips had begun to expand to become more uniform in dimensions and cylindrical. The woman’s sobs did not spur Elliott to action. What action would she even take at this point? What she was seeing was… crazy. Her heart pounded faster.

The woman’s day was getting from bad to worse while Elliott watched on in stunned silence. The wood texture was quickly encasing her torso, and her movements were restricting more and more along with it. Her arms froze at odd positions during her flailing, and she cried out as green spines began to protrude from various points along her skin. She grew taller and wider in fits and bursts, shredding her clothing asunder in the process. Her hair, now fully the same shade of green as the needles sprouting from her limbs, began to split into more clusters of these needles and stick straight up and out.

“Pl…eease… Help… me...eee…” She croaked out to Elliott through rapidly chapping lips. The bark that coated her body coated her head and silenced her. Elliott ran her hand along her skin afterwards. No mistaking it – she was covered in tree bark. Elliott watched more as her features were obscured by her head and neck growing out more to be uniform with her lower half. Branches shot out from many points along her trunk and sprouted many needles to match what were once her arms. The wind rustled her branches, and the woman was gone. Where she’d been, Elliott now backed up slowly from a modestly sized but impressive pine tree. Utterly perfect for the holidays for a living room the size of, say, Vanessa’s. Elliott had no words for her experience that day. Her notes fell from her hand, and her vision began to swim.

Then it was dark.

“….right? You…” there was a voice. It was murky, like Elliott was hearing it from underwater. Her face felt cold.

“Miss? Can you hear me?” The voice tried again, and this time, Elliott opened her eyes. She was looking up at one of the men that worked in the tree farm. He helped her to stand, “Not a good idea to take a nap out here,” he joked, though it was probably just to lighten the mood. His face betrayed his concern.

Elliott shook her head, “I… must have blacked out…” she murmured. Her head hurt badly, and her lack of recent sleep was competing with her caffeine withdrawal to make her feel worse. Every bone in her body ached.

“Well, if you need me to walk you to the front I can once I get this loaded up,” He pointed behind him to a rather gorgeous pine tree. Next to it was a woman in a dark coat with black hair and a beanie. “We’ll get this beaut cut for ya right away, ma’am!” he called to her. The woman waved away the hurry. Elliott was unable to muster the energy to confront Kat right now, and let the man guide her safely away from the cutting down of the tree. She could not look away.

When all was said and done, Elliott watched Kat get driven off by one of the men with a freshly cut tree strapped to the top of their truck. They had laughed when they realized Kat had apparently not had a plan for how to get the tree home. Elliott declined a ride home, and walked with her head down, hugging herself tightly. Despite her exhaustion, she had a feeling she would not be sleeping tonight.